Vive, Ama e Aprende

Starving artist Bob Graham (Robert Montgomery) is painting in the countryside when he almost gets run over by a fox hunt. Socialite Julie Stoddard (Rosalind Russell) gets thrown off her horse and into him. They get marry right away. She quickly adjusts to his bohemian lifestyle. Oscar (Robert Benchley) and Jerry Crump (Mickey Rooney) are some of their intrusive neighbors. Lily Chalmers (Helen Vinson) is her society best friend. A riot in Central Park turns Bob's art into an overnight success.

I would like more romancing before their marriage if only to see her home life as a socialite. That would make the class jumps more compelling. Their relationship needs more setting up and possibly a villain. More than anything, I love Russell and Montgomery is a pretty good match. Their relationship seems very matter of fact. It just needs a bit more heat during the first half and their marriage is so rushed. The drama only comes in the second half.

Since I love Robert Montgomery, and since he has such great chemistry with Rosalind Russell, it's a cinch that I'd rent all five of their movies together. Live, Love and Learn may have given me terrific eye candy, but it ended up being so silly, it seemed like one of those terrible Doris Day comedies from the 1960s. You might want to just watch the first half hour and turn it off before it gets bad.

The first scene is incredibly cute. Bob is painting a landscape in the countryside, and a foxhunt passes him by. Roz is on horseback, and when she topples, she accidentally knocks over his canvas. They argue, and in the midst of their argument, the scene cuts to their wedding ceremony! Roz is giving him moony eyes, but all through their vows, Bob is constantly trying to talk her out of it, vowing she'll be sorry for ruining her life if she goes through with it. They do go through with it, and the rest of the movie follows their early years as he continues to be a starving artist and she gives up all her money and finery. They live in a studio apartment with loud, obnoxious neighbors and a live-in moocher, Robert Benchley, who refuses to leave even though he knows he's dampening their newlywed bliss.

The main problem with the movie is that although he's extremely handsome and charming, Bob's character isn't very likable. He never tries to better Roz's life, he pulls rude pranks on total strangers, picks fights when people don't like his artwork, and then, when he gets a whiff of success, he turns into an egotistical snob. There's only so far good looks can take a person, and unfortunately, his don't take him to the end of the movie. If you do decide to rent it, you'll see Monty Woolley as an art dealer, Helen Vinson as Roz's snobby pseudo-friend, and Mickey Rooney for about fifteen seconds as one of the neighbor kids. You'll also see that Bob and Roz could have easily been cast in the adorable Rag-winning comedy Third Finger, Left Hand.

"Live, Love and Learn" is a thoroughly wacky film, from start to finish. That doesn't mean it's all funny - it's just a wacky plot. The first half is all Bohemian with Robert Montgomery, Rosalind Russell and Robert Benchley setting up house together - which the first two don't mind. The last half departs from the Bohemian and seems to be a critique of the bane of the Bohemians - wealthy living and how it isn't really living. But this is a somewhat dark and meandering and much too long- lasting stretch of the film that loses the comedic touch of the first half.

Montgomery's Bob Graham is the ultra-Bohemian painter (although in his standard duds of the time, he doesn't strike one as Bohemian in dress). And, if his apartment is a bit too neat and tidy for such a lifestyle, let's just say that he is at least thoroughly Bohemian in his mind and way of thinking. Russell's Julie Stoddard immediately falls for the guy when she literally falls over a horse jump and lands in his painting setup. Benchley is his best friend, a perennial sot who comes to pass out in Bob's apartment when he's well into his cups. At least that's the message conveyed from the first and only time the film shows him that way. The rest of the time, he's the source of good barbs, jabs and witticisms. That provides most of the comedy.

It's hard to take Graham's sudden change in character once he comes into the dough. And, the film's long dwelling on him in that state is a downer. Monty Woolley has a couple of nice scenes as Mr. Bawltitude, and Mickey Rooney has a short part as Jerry Crump. Montgomery's Graham isn't very likable, and Russell gives the best performance in the film.

One can't say how many movie buffs might enjoy this film. It's borderline to think of it as being enjoyable. I stretched to give it six stars, but those are for Russell's, Benchley's and Woolley's contributions to the film.

What a fine cast, what a shame how they were wasted. Charmless and tending towards moronic...

It is someone amusing and ironical that MGM which had for its slogan Art for Art's sake in Latin did a comedy based on just that premise. Live Love And Learn stars Robert Montgomery as the Bohemian artistic type and Rosalind Russell as the society girl who falls for him. They marry and he goes about trying to get people to notice him.

When critic Monty Woolley does notice him Montgomery and his work get taken up by the rich and famous. In the process though he loses his muse and Russell. Around to catch him is Russell's society pal Helen Vinson playing one of her patented 'other woman' roles.

A cast of familiar players step into roles like Vinson that are easily identifiable. Such wit that is in the script is provided by Robert Benchley as the hero's perpetually inebriated friend who seems to have moved right in with them.

Today Benchley's character would be treated exactly as he is, gay. A closeted gay to be sure as this was the era of the newly adapted Code in Hollywood. His character seems to have deliberately been put in the film in order that someone get to say witty things. If you've seen the film Remember? that starred Robert Taylor and Greer Garson also from MGM Lew Ayres was playing a similar role to Benchley's.

Montgomery and Russell starred in Night Must Fall which won for Montgomery critical praise and an Oscar nomination. But the public stayed away in droves. I'm guessing that Louis B. Mayer wanted to showcase his stars in more traditional roles for them when he assigned them Live Love And Learn.

Tradition was preserved.